David Karpf

David Karpf is the author of The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy and Analytic Activism: Digital Listening and the New Political Strategy. He is an associate professor in George Washington University’s School of Media & Public Affairs.

AP Photo/John Minchillo Occupy Wall Street protestors regroup in Battery Park after a morning of marches through the Financial District. Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest by Zeynep Tufekci Yale University Press Hell No: The Forgotten Power of the Vietnam Peace Movement by Tom Hayden Yale University Press This article appears in the Summer 2017 issue of The American Prospect . Subscribe here . O nly a few years ago, the prospects for progressive social movements looked more auspicious than they do today. In 2011, aided by new digital technology, massive street protests were on the march from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement and the takeover of the Wisconsin State Capitol. Digitally organized protests continue in 2017, but the earlier optimism is gone. Authoritarian regimes and civil wars have replaced the revolts of the Arab Spring, right-wing nationalist parties have gained strength across the globe, and the daily excesses of Donald Trump...